Hampton

History

Hampton was established in the late 1860s by Elijah Simerly, a state legislator and president of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. He named the community for his wife, Mary Hampton. Simerly built an elaborate, Italianate-style house which still stands at the corner of Main Street and 1st Avenue, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is now known as the "Butler Mansion" after a later owner, Ralph Butler. The Laurel Fork Railway served a mill in Hampton.

Geography

Hampton lies in a broad valley concentrated around the Doe River and its junction with two of its tributaries, namely the Little Doe River, which enters the area from the southwest, and Laurel Fork, which enters the area from the east. This valley is surrounded by Jenkins Mountain on the west, the Iron Mountains on the north, Pond Mountain to the east, and Cedar Mountain to the south. Just southeast of Hampton, the Doe River emerges from the Doe River Gorge, a narrow valley between Cedar Mountain and Fork Mountain. Watauga Lake is located northeast of Hampton. Dennis Cove, an Appalachian cove, lies to the southeast. The Appalachian Trail passes through the eastern outskirts of Hampton. The trail traverses Dennis Cove and follows the upper Laurel Fork Valley before ascending to the crest of Pond Mountain. It descends again to U.S. Route 321, and continues northward along the shores of Watauga Lake. Hampton is located along U.S. Routes 321 and 19E south of Elizabethton, Tennessee.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Elizabethton High School
  High · Elizabethton · 863 students · 13.5:1 ratio
• T A Dugger Junior High School
  Middle · Elizabethton · 633 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Hampton Elementary
  Elementary · Hampton · 548 students · 13.7:1 ratio
• Happy Valley Elementary
  Elementary · Johnson City · 529 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• East Side Elementary
  Elementary · Elizabethton · 491 students · 18.2:1 ratio
• Happy Valley High School
  High · Elizabethton · 446 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• Hampton High School
  High · Hampton · 439 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Hunter Elementary
  Elementary · Elizabethton · 433 students · 14:1 ratio